There are many activities and other games included in the teacher’s manual. Another great game to play is Formez la Phrase on pages 13 and 14. The cards necessary for the game are already provided for you, they’re the blue and green cards with pronouns, the conjugated form of the verb être, and adjectives. It’s a blast to play because the students have to concentrate, listen and run to make sentences. I’ve actually had to tell teachers at workshops to keep from hurting each other because they get excited, just like the students! I’ve also used the same strategies in the game to evaluate the language skills of my students by asking them to form sentences during one on one interviews.
I use a lot of gestures and charades when teaching verbs. For manger, to take a simple example, I point to myself, make the eating gesture (by pretending to hold a spoon to my mouth) and then say “Je mange.” I ask students to imitate me and then I point to a student and say, “Ah, tu manges,” etc. As much a possible, I don’t give them the English translation. For harder verbs to act out like “étudier”, for example, students try to figure out what I’m doing and if someone says, “Oh, you’re studying!” I give them a big nod. I also incorporate these verbs in their weekly Dictées (Spelling) in which I give sentences and not just words for them to write out so that the verbs are written in context.
I like to make the job easier for myself as a teacher and that’s why I make every effort to empower my students to be responsible for as much of the preparation of the materials and reinforcing of key concepts through peer tutoring. With Verbathon, I model the activities and explain to my students that at some point, they will replace me to be in-charge of the activity.
During the preparation for the tournament, special care and attention is given to ensure that teams are balanced with students that are strong and weak. Key steps in creating the teams are covered in pages 3-5 of the manual. These are critical steps. If a team has all the “brains”, the other teams will lose interest in participating.
A teacher support section is in development where we will be posting videos that you and your students can chant or sing a-long to. Contact us to let us know you’re waiting.
The game or tournament is the “icing on the cake” and that the critical learning comes from the activities that expose the students to verb conjugation/usage in short sessions of as little as 2 minutes on a regular basis. I do short but daily exercises with my students that uses the wallcharts and cards. The wallchart and cards are displayed in the classroom and the teacher models the activities.
Yes. One of the great things about the wall chart is that the pockets hold the cards in very well and it can be folded with the cards inside so that it’s ready to use in your next class. Emmanuel shows how to do this in his workshops.
Contact us and we send you replacements.
It depends upon the needs of the class(es) you teach.
We recommend the Deluxe Edition always because it gives you the most value for the money spent.
If you have a limited budget, get the Starter Edition.
If you want two wall charts instead of one, purchase the Starter Edition and Réquest (French) or Pregreso (Spanish) or Fragant (German) depending upon which language(s) you teach.
For more specific recommendations, contact us and we’ll help you make the best choice for your needs.
Unfortunately, we do not laminate the cards because it becomes prohibitively expensive. This is what we recommend:
- Upon receiving the kit, ask volunteers (parents or even students) to separate the perforated cards.
- To reduce lamination costs, see if you can have access to a laminator at a school.
- Laminate only the cards that are needed. The rest can be gradually laminated.
If you ordered a German Verbathon® Deluxe, then Fragant (FRAGe-ANTwort), is included in the kit you received. Fragant is a quiz-type game that looks like Jeopardy, the biggest difference being the students create and evaluate the worth of each question and then play the game. It’s a great activity to motivate and teach students how to write questions and promote critical thinking. The same wallchart for Verbathon is used. This is definitely a great student-generated game.
If you ordered a Spanish Verbathon® Deluxe, then Pregreso (PREGunta-RESpuesta), is included in the kit you received. Pregreso is a quiz-type game that looks like Jeopardy, the biggest difference being the students create and evaluate the worth of each question and then play the game. It’s a great activity to motivate and teach students how to write questions and promote critical thinking. The same wallchart for Verbathon is used. This is definitely a great student-generated game.
If you ordered a French Verbathon® Deluxe, then Réquest(RÉponse/QUESTion), is included in the kit you received. You may also order Réquest separately later, but the cost is more, but you do get an additional wall chart. Réquest is a quiz-type game that looks like Jeopardy, the biggest difference being the students create and evaluate the worth of each question and then play the game. It’s a great activity to motivate and teach students how to write questions and promote critical thinking. The same wallchart for Verbathon is used. This is definitely a great student-generated game. I’ve used Réquest on students as early as Grade 2 French Immersion with excellent results.
